Adventure to Portland

Kathryn and I set out on another #bffadventure to Portland, Oregon!

Oliver's Cafe Website

 8931 S.E. Foster Road Suite 105
Portland, OR 97266

Kathryn and I ate breakfast with our lovely friend Leslie who moved to Portland, OR within the last year. I found this cute little cafe on Yelp that had good reviews and fit our 1 dollar sign $ budget. It is located within the "Lents" neighborhood in South East Portland. The food was tasty!

Kathryn and I were on a mission to see as many waterfalls and we could. I researched before hand and made a list of the 5 most popular/largest waterfalls in the area. To our surprise, most of these waterfalls were within 10 miles of each other and literally yards off the same road. We drove on 1-30 for about 20 miles away from Portland and took the Bridal Veil Rd exit to the Historic Columbia River Hwy. The drive was INCREDIBLY beautiful and none of our pictures did it justice.

I consider this my 1st real waterfall that I have ever seen. 
 

So, naturally I freaked out when I could see it from the road. 

It may look small in this picture, but you can hike down a path and stand right next to it.

This waterfall requires a 2/3 mile hike down to the base of the falls. It's an uphill hike on the way back up, but there are benches through out the short trail.

Bridal Veil Trail

Kathryn and I really liked this waterfall so we took a lot of pictures. haha

This is the most famous waterfall in Oregon. It is the second highest year-around waterfall in the United States with a total drop of 611 feet.

 

This is the view from the bridge, the first drop of Multnomah. The view from the bridge isn't as impressive, but you do get hit by the mist of the waterfall. There is a trail for you to climb up to the top of the falls, but we decided to adventure into the Multnomah lodge instead.

This waterfall is literally yards from the Columbia River HWY.  I thought it was cute. =)

Sizzle Pie's website
 926 W. Burnside St. Portland, OR

I found this place on Yelp. It's located right across from Powell's bookstore. The pizza can be ordered by the slice, a cut (half slice), and a full pizza. It was the typical New York Style (very greasy) pizza. It was okay. I enjoyed the bread sticks more.

 Powell's Books Website
1005 W Burnside St, Portland, OR 97209
I was so pumped to take Kathryn to Powell's.

And as you can see, she was very excited and in love with the place, too. =)

Cha Cha Cha's Website
3010 SW Moody Ave Portland, OR

Kathryn and I knew our next adventure was to ride the Aerial Tram! So we just winged it and drove to lower tram location and hoped there would be place to eat lunch near there.
There wasn't a lot around this area, but I can tell they are trying to build it up. There was 1 building off SW Moody Ave. that had a few new cafes and restaurants. We decided to give the Mexican restaurant "Cha Cha Cha!" a try. It doesn't have the greatest reviews on Yelp, but we enjoyed it.
Negative Point - They didn't give us chips and salsa...so we assumed you had to order those. Lame.

http://www.gobytram.com/
3303 SW Bond Ave, Portland, OR 97239

I was very excited for this!

 
I'll be honest, I knew about this attraction from watching The Real World: Portland.

Hours
Weekdays: 5:30am to 9:30pm.
Saturday: 9am to 5pm
Sunday: 1pm to 5pm (from May 17th through September only)
Price
Roadtrip Fare: $4.35
(random amount, but totally worth it!)
 
Be sure to check the website for tram operation hours. It is closed many holidays and parts of the year.

Mt. Hood

We were told to wait until the fog cleared to see great views. Dude, were they right. I had only heard about Mt. Hood, but when we were lifted above the city you could see TWO MOUNTAINS!!! They were miraculous and none of our pictures do them justice. We learned that they are snow capped volcanoes: Mt. Hood (11,000 ft) & Mt. St. Helens (8,000 ft).

You can faintly see Mt. St Helens in the distance. (Pic does it NO justice).

I highly recommend doing this attraction. It gives you amazing views of the city skyline, bridges, the river, and sweet mountain/volcanoes.

Rose Garden Website

850 SW Rose Garden Way
Portland, OR 97205

The International Rose Garden is located in a HUGE park in Southwest Portland. This park was hoppin! The Rose Garden was GIGANTIC! I've never seen so many roses in my entire life.

It is also next door to the Portland Japanese Garden. Kathryn and I hiked up a hill to the entrance and learned that there was a $9.50 entrance fee, so we didn't go in.

But we had a swell time frolicking in all the roses!

 VooDoo Doughnut's Website
22 SW 3rd Ave, Portland, OR 97204

Besides waterfalls, Portland is famous for 2 things: Doughnuts and Microbreweries. But, Kathryn and I don't like beer so we just did the doughnut part.

 These are, hands down, the best doughnuts I have ever tasted. They are definitely worth it! Just be prepared to stand in a line no matter the time of day for these delicious pastries. You'll be entranced by the building's glittery bricks covered in coins from it's customers.

Kathryn isn't a doughnut person, and SHE even enjoyed them. I promise you will, too. 

VooDoo Doughnut is also conveniently located across from the infamous "Keep Portland Weird" sign (as you can see in the background of me enjoying my Oreo doughtnut).

 3756 SE Oak St, Portland, OR 97214

Kathryn and I had some time to spare before heading back to the airport. Luckily, Portland has some beautiful parks all over the city. So, we crossed the river and picked Laurelhurst Park to hang out in. We grabbed our new books we purchased from Powell's and found a big tree to sit under with a pretty view of the lake.

Sadly, we left the lush green nature of Portland to return home to Los Angeles.